I opened the cooler and saw some sort of bready thing wrapped in plastic wrap. What is that? “They’re bierocks,” Jim said.
Huh? “Yeah, they’re a Kansas thing. Cabbage burgers? Runzas?” Never heard of it.
Jim handed me one. “Cabbage burgers,” eh? Didn’t sound too appetizing. I hesitated, but hell, we’d just climbed down a mountain in Colorado after a successful ptarmigan hunt. I was starving. What the hell. I took a bite. It was cold, bready, meaty… and surprisingly good!
I decided then and there I needed to make these strangely awesome bready things. They have a long history in Eastern Europe.
It took me a few tries, but I now have a bierock recipe I really like. Aren’t they pretty?
Jim’s did not have seeds on top, but I like them. You can really get the flavor, too — it’s a bit like the topping on an “everything” bagel. The bread is fantastic, too. Light, pillowy, but strong enough to contain the filling.
The filling. I realized you could put anything inside these buns, but I stuck with a more or less traditional Polish bierock. Cabbage, onion and meat is a must. Sauerkraut factors in, and I like it a lot. I use my own fennel sauerkraut, but any good ‘kraut would work.
Most bierock recipes are super simple in terms of seasoning, but I added some Eastern European touches, like mustard, malt vinegar and thyme.
As for the meat, well… really anything goes. Anything. And if you are a vegetarian reading this, chopped mushrooms work every bit as well. I’ve made these bierocks with sharp-tailed grouse, sea ducks, regular ducks, venison and wild pork. The one thing you need to decide is whether you’re going ground or diced.
When I use bird breasts or another really tender cut, I will dice the meat small and add it raw to the filling; don’t worry, it cooks through when you bake the bierocks. Your other option is to add ground meat that you cook with the filling.
One other tip that no other bierock recipe seems to mention: You need to flatten the outside inch or so of the bread dough much thinner than the center. You actually want the center to be about 1/4 inch thick, so pretty thick. But the rim needs to be very thin. You put the filling on the center, and then fold up the outside rim to seal it. If you don’t flatten the outer part more than the center, you will have a huge glob of bread at the bottom of the bierock. Doing it this way keeps the bread relatively even. See?
A final note: Bierocks tend to look like this. Runzas, which are more of a Nebraska thing, are kinda square or rectangular. They taste about the same, though.
I hope you make these, and I’d love to hear about how you make them your own in the comments section!
Bierocks or Runzas
Ingredients
DOUGH
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 packet of yeast
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- ¼ cup room temperature butter
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
FILLING
- 1 pound tender meat, diced small (see above)
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 cups shredded cabbage
- 1 cup chopped sauerkraut
- 1 cup chopped onion
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 2 tablespoons malt vinegar
- ¼ cup beer (lager or pilsner)
TO FINISH
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten, for brushing the bierocks
- 2 tablespoons seeds (poppy, caraway, sesame, etc)
Instructions
- Bloom the yeast in the warm water for 10 minutes, then mix all the remaining dough incredient together in a bowl. Knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes, then cover and let rest 1 hour.
- Make the filling. Heat the butter in a large pan and cook the cabbage, sauerkraut and onions over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Stir in the thyme, mustard, vinegar and beer and simmer until the liquid is all gone. Turn off the heat, and, when this is cool, mix well with the uncooked meat. Set in the fridge.
- After the first hour has elapsed, punch down the dough, knead a few more times, then roll into a ball, cover and let sit another hour.
- When the dough has about 30 minutes to go, take the filling out of the fridge. It is important that it goes into the bierock at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a baking sheet well.
- Cut the dough into eight pieces. Set the pieces you are not working on under plastic wrap or a damp towel. Divide the filling into eight parts, too.
- Roll a piece of dough into a ball, then flatten it to about 1/3 of an inch thick. Roll the outer inch of the dough thinner, to about ¼ inch thick or even thinner if you can – this makes what will become the bottom of the pastry match better with the top. Add some filling and bring the dough up all around it to seal. Set the dough seam side down on a floured surface and gently shape it into a flattened ball with your hands. Set on the greased baking sheet and repeat with the other pieces of dough.
- When all your bierocks are made and on the sheet, paint them all with egg and sprinkle with the seeds, plus a little more salt.
- Bake for 25 minutes, and cool a bit before serving. These are excellent at room temperature, too.
We made our own filling but this dough recipe, even without the seeds is the best. Forever grateful.
Hank,
Any recommendations for adding some whole wheat, rye flour to the dough? Making some again soon with home fermented sauerkraut.
I’m not a fan of ground beef and in searching for Bierock recipes using ground pork or other meat I found yours. We have a couple of 2nd growth cabbages from the garden plus homemade sauerkraut, so I’m going to try this really soon!
I am about to begin the dough process for the 5th time since finding this recipe about a month ago!! My family, especially my husband, adores these Bierocks. Thank you so much for sharing such a delicious creation.
I was looking for a good recipe to use up our ground venison because we always seem to have so much left over each year and this was it! I, sadly, couldn’t try them because I have celiac disease, but my fiancé loved them!! Highly recommend.
Best recipe for Bierocks ever. My children and grandchildren loved them. They have such good flavor compared to just the cabbage ones.
I make these all the time, great recipe. I usually make more than needed for one meal, as they freeze lovely and then you have your own hot pockets. I just put them in individual sandwich bags after baking and freeze. Then pop in the Microwave 1 to 2 minutes and instant lunch or dinner. My family loves them.
These sound fantastic. Can they be made ahead or frozen
Chris: Yes, both.
Great recipe that allows for its use creatively with seasonal foods for the filling. The dough is easy to work into bierocks. I usually put in twice the yeast on breads and did so with this dough and it worked great (both times using this recipe).
This is an incredible, spot on recipe. Made some with wild turkey leg meat and they are spectacular. Topped mine with poppy seed and salt. Thanks for a great recipe!
I am not a huge kraut fan but I love kimchi so my first round had kimchi and ground turkey. They were delish. The next round had ground lamb and a Moroccan flavor profile — cumin, smoked paprika, cinnamon and harrisa and some lentils just because they needed using up. The lentils added a nice texture. Not sure what they would have thought in Kansas, but I loved them both.
Excellent recipe! I varied mine a bit, since my husband can’t eat sauerkraut. I especially like the dough recipe! Very nice and stretchy, much like a pizza dough; exactly what’s needed! Thank you.
This recipe is a win, though I cheated and used Penzey’s Bavarian seasoning – which is almost your spice content, then added more pepper. Turned out very well.
I made mine with ground beef and they were so delicious! It was my first attempt at making bierocks and I couldn’t be happier!
Hi Hank, was thinking of giving this a try with some diver duck breasts I have laying in the freezer would you recommend marinating them in something first or just using as is?
Erik: If you remove all the fat off the breasts, they should be good as is.
Do these need to rise after filling and before baking? I have made these a couple of times now and they don’t have the same puffy texture as your pictures.
My wife introduced me to these when we started dating. Simple and cheap. She used frozen dough (easiest if this is for rolls as it is pre-portioned), sauerkraut and a 50-50 mix of hamburger and sausage. Start the rolls to defrosting, brown and drain the meat then mix with the kraut and stuff the rolls. Great with mustard.
These are seriously amazing! I can see a lot of upcoming wild meat being used in these. I used a combo of duck and goose meat, and still cannot get over how perfect this tasted. Thanks so much.
I’ve made these several times with ground venison and they are fantastic. This time I happened to have some leftover medium rare leg of lamb and decided to use it for the filling instead and I’m so glad I did. The flavors paired wonderfully. Also, if you aren’t using homemade kraut, Trader Joe’s kraut works really well here. Thanks for another great recipe, Hank.
Is there a difference between these and krautburgers?
M: I don’t think so, but everyone’s recipe for them will be different.
Nevermind. I see it now. Great recipe!!!
Just to be sure, the meat is raw before you cook the Bierocks? I’ve never been a baker…. I had no idea that the inside of a roll would get hot enough to cook meat.
They look to awesome not to try them out. Thanks Hank.
Wayne: It can be, and I do this with meat that can get dry in a hurry, like, say, a duck breast. But traditionally, you’d grind the meat and cook it with the onions before stuffing.
In Estonia these are called Pirukad. They are a bit smaller and while they can have lots of different fillings the typical is beef (seasoned with marjoram). They are a great snack for road trips or hikes – pull them out of the freezer and they’ll be thawed for lunchtime.
These look so good!! I’m mostly vegetarian and would never hunt, but really appreciate your blog and it’s focus on foraging/DIY food sourcing.
Marion: If you like mushrooms, use them in place of the meat. It is every bit as good!
I’ve been making them for years out of ground venison and ground goose, and yes I’m from Kansas!
This looks awesome! Can’t wait to try it.